Originally published on July 2, 2017 on FoxNews Opinion.
By Mary
Claire Kendall
Two
Hollywood greats, James “Jimmy” Stewart and Henry “Hank” Fonda, offer a
valuable lesson for today’s polarized America.
The two,
“Hank” and “Jim,” were best friends. (Only Fonda called Stewart “Jim.”)
Stewart
died twenty years ago this Sunday, July 2—some 15 years after, Fonda, who died
on August 12, 1982.
“I talked
to Fonda once about Jimmy, how they got along so well, considering that they
were polar opposites politically,” Peter Bogdnovich, director, actor and
writer, told me. “And Hank said, ‘We just don’t talk about politics. We just
don’t talk about it.’”
 |
| James Stewart and Henry Fonda in London on December 8, 1975, while both were doing plays in the City’s West End. |
“They
were delightful together,” he said. “Both had such a good time together” in
their bachelor years and then later joined by their wives, about which Bogdanovich writes in his
book, Who the Hell’s in it?: Conversations with Hollywood’s Legendary Actors.
Fonda and
Stewart met at the University Players in Falmouth, Massachusetts in the summer
of 1932 when both were starting their acting careers. (Albeit Stewart,
ostensibly there to play his accordion in the “tea room,” was reassigned to the
stage, setup and acting, to preserve patrons’ nerves.) The two went to New York
together when the show “Carrie Nation” debuted on Broadway, and then stayed on,
suffering through some lean times. Then Fonda, who had studied acting, watched
incredulously as his roommate Stewart, a Princeton graduate, class of ’32, kind
of fell into Broadway roles.
Stewart
followed Fonda to Hollywood in 1935, where they also roomed together. “Greta
Garbo moved next door and put up a huge stone wall, and they dug a hole under
the wall,” said Bogdanovich. Or at least tried to.
Garbo’s
wall notwithstanding, they both rose quickly—Fonda again looking on in
amazement at Stewart’s great fortune in getting bit parts; then, in 1938, being
plucked from relative obscurity to co-star in Frank Capra’s “You Can’t Take It
With You” followed by his iconic performance the next year as Jefferson Smith
in Capra’s Mr. Smith
Goes to Washington.
Hollywood
at the time, considering the latter film too radical, passed over Stewart for a
well-deserved Oscar, giving it to him instead for his performance in “The
Philadelphia Story” (1940). Soon thereafter he was drafted and served in the
Army Air Corps during World War II, commanding some 11 of 20 bombing missions
he flew.
Fonda
also served in the U.S. Navy during the war—for three years, initially
enlisting as a Quartermaster 3rd Class on the destroyer USS Satterlee because,
he said, “I don’t want to be in a fake war in a studio.” Previously, he and
Stewart had raised funds for the defense of Britain.
Whereas
their politics were different, Fonda and Stewart had the same sensibilities
vis-à-vis sharing their war experiences. “Most of the (Hollywood) people in the
war wouldn’t talk about it,” said Bogdanovich. “John Ford wouldn’t talk about
it. Neither did Jimmy. And, I asked Fonda about it. But he didn’t answer. None
of them volunteered anything.” Asked why, he said, “It was too painful. Too
much. They didn’t want to appear to be trying to be heroic, bragging on
themselves… They didn’t do that. It was just too serious of a situation to deal
with it frivolously or in a casual way.”
Stewart
remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was promoted to Brigadier General on
July 23, 1959, retiring on May 31, 1968, and then supporting the presidential
bids of his other good Hollywood friend, Ronald Reagan—frequently visiting
“Ron” at the White House during his presidency.
After Fonda
died and Stewart aced a scene in Right
of Way (1983), co-starring Bette Davis, he looked heavenward and said
“Thanks, Hank.”
And,
thanks to both for their example in keeping politics in its place for the sake
of friendship and civility.
Mary Claire Kendall is author of Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends, recently
published in Madrid under the title También Dios pasa por Hollywood.
